Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
The “flying palace” Qatar gifted Donald Trump might not end up at his presidential library after all, according to his son, Eric. The White House has declassified details of a secret FBI investigation into whether Trump was acting as a Russian asset. New Mexico is suing the Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, accusing them of blocking the state’s own investigation into Epstein’s notorious Zorro Ranch. And Trump is reportedly now pressuring a House Republican facing allegations of domestic abuse to drop out of the race.
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Trump Abruptly Walks Back Plans to Donate Qatari Jet After Leaving Office
Last May, Trump promised his new $400 million luxury plane gifted to him by the Qatari royal family would go “directly to the library after I leave office.” That’s apparently no longer the plan, according to Eric Trump.
The president’s second-eldest son, who is helping to build his father’s presidential library complex in Miami, told NBC News that displaying the Qatari jet “is not the plan at the moment, saying a retired Air Force One jet similar to the Boeing 707 on display at the Reagan presidential library in California would take its place.
No one knows exactly what will happen to the Qatari jet. It’s still part of the active Air Force fleet, and Trump flew on it as recently as last month for the NATO summit in Turkey.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is concerned Trump might try to keep the plane for his own personal use after he leaves office. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth notably refused to give Murphy a firm answer when asked directly about the fate of the jet.
Murphy and nine other Democrats have since introduced a bill that would keep the plane permanently in the U.S. fleet, while ordering a government watchdog to review the gift, including any conflicts of interest. That bill likely won’t go anywhere in a Republican-controlled Congress, but Democrats may retake one or both chambers this November.
Richard Painter, who was an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, says handing the jet over to a private entity like Trump’s library rather than keeping it inside the government fleet would directly conflict with the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause. The Constitution explicitly bars government officials from accepting gifts from foreign governments without obtaining prior approval from Congress.
Several watchdog groups have been asking the Pentagon’s inspector general for more than a year to look into whether the original gift was even legal. As of this writing, there’s been no movement on that front.
Declassified Report Confirms Trump Investigated as Potential Russian Asset
The White House recently declassified a report confirming that the FBI opened a formal investigation into whether Trump was acting as a Russian asset when he fired former FBI Director James Comey during his first term.
That investigation even had its own name: Oxferd Comma. It was folded into the larger Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which was the name for the probe into the whether Russia influenced Trump’s 2016 campaign.
One unnamed administration official said there was no evidence to back up the theory when discussing the declassified documents. That official told CBS News the case was marked sensitive, which is a typical designation when attempting to keep an investigation off the books from other agents. That same source said that agents who opened it believed it was the least intrusive way to address what they viewed as a serious national security concern.
Oxferd Comma eventually got rolled into then-Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s larger investigation and was eventually found to have no merit.
Comey’s 2017 firing is what set the entire Mueller probe in motion. The White House initially blamed Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation for his dismissal, though Mueller’s own report said Trump was actually frustrated that Comey didn’t publicly clear him of the allegations about Russian collusion.
Mueller documented several contacts between key Trump campaign figures and Russian-linked operatives, though he stopped short of saying there was direct collusion between Trump and the Russian government.
Trump has continued to refer to Comey as a “dirty cop” and has accused multiple federal agencies of running corrupt investigations against him. Comey has called Trump “morally unfit” for office. Earlier this year, Comey was indicted for allegedly threatening Trump’s life by posting an image of seashells on social media that spelled out “8647,” with “86” symbolizing a restaurant term to get rid of a menu item, and “47” referring to Trump’s second administration. Comey said the charge is vindictive prosecution, though the Trump Justice Department maintains it’s a serious investigation.
New Mexico Sues Trump DOJ for Blocking Investigation Into Epstein Ranch
New Mexico is now suing both the Trump Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, arguing the federal government has been actively blocking its own state investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes at the notorious Zorro Ranch.
New Mexico Democratic Attorney General Raúl Torrez says his office has faced significant resistance from the DOJ, adding that kind of resistance is uncommon when state and federal investigators often work the same cases at the same time. According to his lawsuit, the Justice Department demanded that all requests for information be submitted formally, only to reject them anyway once they were officially submitted.
The suit claims this textbook stonewalling campaign is causing active and ongoing harm to Epstein’s victims, while also undermining the public interest. Torrez is now asking a judge to force the federal government to hand over relevant materials. New Mexico’s AG filed the suit on the same day it released a preliminary report on its own Epstein investigation.
This is especially noteworthy, as New Mexico may be one of the last places left that can actually hold Epstein’s co-conspirators criminally accountable. Epstein bought the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico back in 1993, and testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 trial included allegations that multiple women suffered horrific abuse there. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
The property has since been sold and renamed, and its new owner, Donald Huffines — who is also running as the Republican candidate in Texas’ state comptroller race —says he plans to run it as a Christian retreat.
This is all going on while the Justice Department’s broader release of Epstein records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act has continued to draw criticism from both Epstein survivors and members of Congress from both parties. Blanche and the DOJ are accused of failing to redact survivors’ identifying information while simultaneously redacting the names of Epstein’s partners in crime. Roughly two million pages of documents remain sealed.
Trump Quietly Pressuring Republican Accused of Domestic Violence to Drop Out
House Republicans have two members in serious trouble with the midterms rapidly approaching in just three months.
Republican Chuck Edwards of North Carolina announced early Wednesday morning he’s dropping out of his reelection race after the House Ethics Committee recommended he be censured for inappropriate behavior toward female staffers.
Additionally, Republican Max Miller of Ohio is still refusing to withdraw from his own race despite his ex-wife, Emily Moreno — the daughter of Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio — accusing him of domestic abuse.
Miller claims House Speaker Mike Johnson has his back, though Johnson is notably telling a different story. The speaker told Politico he hasn’t recently spoken with Miller about the allegations. He also said it’s not his place to get involved in a member’s personal family matters, and that the House Ethics Committee’s investigation should run its course.
That’s a significant break after days of total silence from Republican leadership. And Politico is additionally reporting that Trump is personally applying pressure to Miller to drop out of the race, viewing his chances of getting reelected to a third term as increasingly slim. Miller still has zero intention of doing that. He has until the end of this week to exit the race in time for Republicans to replace him name on the November ballot.
As for Edwards, Johnson said night that the North Carolina Republican has “a big decision” to make ahead of Monday’s ballot replacement deadline , and that party leaders were privately pushing him to drop out before then.
Both controversies are landing at the worst possible time for a party trying to hold onto its congressional majorities, with Republicans traveling the country to boost candidates at a time when unflattering stories are dominating the headlines.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris, with Raw America. We’ll see you tomorrow.
Watch Raw America’s interview with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden below:
Here are some stories you may have missed:
Blanche Keeping Trump’s Audit Shield Intact May Save Him $100 Million. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — who may be fully confirmed by the full Senate by the end of the week — notably kept President Donald Trump’s IRS audit immunity in place despite striking his proposed $1.8 billion slush fund for MAGA loyalists. Thanks to the deal, which shields Trump, his family and his businesses from all IRS audits in perpetuity, Trump could save up to $100 million in back taxes and penalties. No other president has ever had their own IRS shield them from audits prior to Trump.
Data Center Opponents Celebrate Big Victories in Tuesday’s Primaries. Democratic primary winners in Kansas and Michigan, like Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, have made opposition to data centers a centerpiece of their campaigns, suggesting Silicon Valley may have significant headaches if they win their general elections in November. Meanwhile, Kansas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Cindy Holscher — who is currently a state senator — has advocated for implementing a statewide moratorium on new data centers.
New York Leaders Warn Trump’s Medicare Part D Cuts Will Lead to Higher Costs for Seniors. After President Donald Trump’s administration announced it was ending Medicare Part D subsidies for prescription drugs at the end of 2026, tens of millions of seniors could see the costs of drugs increase by significant amounts in 2027 and beyond. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) say that an estimated 1.3 million seniors in the Empire State could see their own costs increase by as much as 40 percent year-over-year.
